WELCOME TO BIRDCAGE RECORDS
Before the internet, way back in the seventies, dinosaurs by the names of Columbia, Warner Brothers, Atlantic and Capitol Records ruled the world. They gobbled up all in their path and if you weren’t a part of that, forget about getting your music out to the public.
That is, until indie labels like Stiff and Chiswick in the UK and Dangerhouse and Index in my native California took ‘em on.
I was inspired and created Birdcage Records in 1983, mainly to release my own music, but always in hopes of releasing other really good, cutting edge artists, as well.
My sounds veered wildly from the early post-punk of the Prime Movers to the super-goofy, yet quite popular (go figure!) Dread Zeppelin.
There came other Birdcage artists… from the early days with Santa Barbara’s Bel-Fires (should’a got a major deal!) to many of my former IRS Records label mates: Stan Ridgway, Pietra Wexstun (Hecate’s Angels), Johnette Napolitano (In Vivo).
Released the Mystery Band (Former Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band), Ghosthouse, Pain, Acid Bran and a CD by one of my own guitar heroes, the late, legendary Ron Asheton of Iggy & The Stooges.
Birdcage Records sell other CDs in limited quantity, too - rarities by artists like The Grateful Dead, Humble Pie, Mountain, Ian Hunter, Paul Weller, Townes Van Zandt and many others. Please check out the CDs for sale for the complete list.
 THE PRIME MOVERS Museum (Birdcage Records 2006) |
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New Arrivals:
Going Fast (Last Few Copies):
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TALE OF TWO GUITARISTS
RON ASHETON
Fortunately, Asheton was prolific in his later years leaving us with the reformed Stooges’ ‘The Weirdness’ as well as his great tracks on Iggy’s ‘Skull Ring.’ Thank you for all the great music, Ron. Ron Asheton Birdcage Releases:
Hear Roman Holiday from Ron Asheton’s “Thin Slim & None/Flunkie”
ROCKY HILL
When American blues split in 1969, all three members moved to Houston. Beard was recruited by Houston guitarist Billy Gibbons of the Moving Sidewalks. They needed a bassist and Beard suggested Dusty; the new trio became ZZ Top. “Dusty wanted to play rock ‘n’ roll,” Hill told the Chronicle in 1979. “(Dusty) wanted to make some money. And he did. … I wanted to play some blues. And I did.” Rocky Hill died Friday at his Houston-area home; he was 62. A statement claimed he died of “undisclosed complications of a medical condition.” Documentation of Hill’s career requires a hunt. One of the two albums he made with American Blues, a 13th Floor Elevators-inspired band he formed with Dusty in the late-’60s, can be found online for upwards of $70 while the other is unavailable. On one of his three solo albums, Texas Shuffle, Hill sings in a gruff bluesy voice while his playing is predictably sharp Hill should’ve been a sure thing in the 1980s. His brother’s band was selling tens of millions of records of boogie-based mainstream rock, while Stevie Ray Vaughan, a Dallas guitarist eight years his junior, was also finally receiving his due. Hill suggested he still wasn’t interested in chasing success. “My reputation is terrible for flaking out on people ‘cause I always really have been true to my material and true to my art,” he told the Chronicle. “I’m an artist, first and foremost.”
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The entire Birdcage family were stunned to learn of the death of one of our heroes, RON ASHETON, in January 2009. FINALLY… Iggy, Ron and Scott Asheton were poised to take the big stage at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame (whatever that means) BUT… cheated again. Finally, Ron was beginning to get his due as one of the originators of the punk rock guitar sound; ROLLING STONE even naming him the 29th most important guitarist in popular music - describing him as “the Detroit punk who made the Stooges’ music reek like a puddle of week-old biker sweat.”
Rocky Hill was described as “a monster on guitar,” though over four decades he could be a difficult creature to find. His career dated back to the 1960s when he was a hotshot player with blue hair joined on bass by his brother Dusty and drummer Frank Beard in a psychedelic rock band called American Blues.
